WellCommons

Mmmm, CSA greens and chick peas. Yum! by Sarah Henning

Well, we're at the end folks. This week, I won't pick up a CSA bag from the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance. That's depressing because not only will I not be getting a bunch of fresh, local, organic veggies each week, but because that also means a long, slow winter (without my CSA or the Farmers' Market) is coming.

Blech.

But that's life right? So, we've decided to enjoy what we've got (and hope our stored local sweet potatoes last for a really, really long time).

So, this week we had one of my favorite dishes from one of the books I'm always raving about, Terry Walters' "Clean Food" — Bok Choy and Chickpeas with Cashews. It's a yummy stir-fry that utilizes not only the local bok choy I got in my bag last week, but also ginger (my favorite!) and is made pretty dang filling thanks to the addition of chickpeas and cashews. We don't even serve ours with rice because it's quite enough the way it is. Now, we might eat double the servings we're supposed to, but, hey, we have big bowls.

Without further ado, here's the recipe, and I hope you enjoy it. I know I will this winter, especially on days when I'm yearning for spring when I can get my greens locally again! That said, I'll try to post occasionally with what we've been cooking this winter when I'm able to get local ingredients.

For a final time until next CSA season, the chef does his thumb's up pose! by Sarah Henning

Bok Choy and Chickpeas with Cashews (From "Clean Food" by Terry Walters)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon Bragg Liquid Aminos

1 tablespoon mirin

1 cup cooked chickpeas

6 heads baby bok choy, chopped into large pieces (we used a full-size bok choy and some mustard greens)

1/2 cup toasted cashews (we used raw)

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté ginger in olive oil 1 minute. Add liquid aminos, mirin and chickpeas and sauté 2 minutes. Add bok choy and sauté another 2 to 3 minutes or until greens are just tender. Remove from heat, top with toasted cashews and serve.

CSA salad greens with homemade tahini dressing and CSA sweet potato fries. by Sarah Henning

There's nothing like getting rid of your odds and ends, no matter how yummy they happen to be. Last week, my pantry and fridge happened to be overflowing with sweet potatoes and various types of squash and my fridge full of fruits and veggies, because despite the fact I pick up my CSA goodies every week, I can't keep from buying extra stuff, both at the farmers' market and the grocery store. Yeah, I know that kind of defeats the purpose of a CSA, but we eat it all eventually.

Though, despite my love of having fruits and veggies lying around, my kitchen had kind of gotten to defcon 5 status — I needed to clear out a boat load of items, and fast.

Oh, the perils of buying fresh food.

Lucky for me, the local stuff keeps longer because it doesn't travel as far, so everything was in pretty good shape, there was just a lot to it.

My solution? A crisper-clearing salad served with sweet potato fries, for which you'll find the recipe on an earlier post. That, and a conglomeration of winter veggies roasted in spices and perfect for a night a chill in the air.

Both this week's recipes come from a book I won in a contest on Twitter (I'm at @shhenning if you happen to tweet), and one that has yet to let me down, "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. You may recall that it was Moskowtiz's scrambled tofu recipe that first got my tofu-hating husband to think the stuff wasn't so bad.

The first recipe is a dressing that, while in the book is served on cooked kale, we love on salads. Its base is tahini, which gives hummus that hummus-y flavor, and the dressing also has the same delicious bite.

The second is one that is meant to be a side dish, but we ate as a main course. It uses everything from squash to sweet potatoes to carrots, which is great because I had more than enough of each of those things. Plus, it has ginger in it, which makes it automatically endearing to me. The dish also calls for parsnips, but because we has salad turnips to use, I figured we could sub those. Well, the hubby did the cooking and he hates turnips, so they didn't make it in the dish. Too bad, but what can a girl do? Maybe just use them next week?

The chef is quite pleased with his tahini dressing salad and sweet potato fries. by Sarah Henning

Tahini dressing ("Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz)

8 teaspoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup tahini

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1 lemon

Several dashes fresh black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup lightly packed fresh parsley

1/2 cold water

Heat the garlic in 6 teaspoons of the olive oil in a small sauté pan over very low heat for 2 minutes, just until it's fragrant. Place the heated garlic and all the other ingredients except the parsley in the food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. Add the parsley and pulse until the parsley is very finely chopped but not pureed. Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour in an airtight container. You may need to mix in a little extra water once it's chilled.

Our roasted winter veggies. Mmmmmmm.... by Sarah Henning

Ginger Roasted Winter Vegetables ("Vegan with a Vengence" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz)

1 pound parsnips, washed, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks (we were going to sub turnips)

2 large carrots, washed, peeled cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4-inch chunks

1 pound sweet potatoes (about 3 medium size), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks

2 heaping tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup olive oil

Pinch cinnamon

Pinch allspice

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, making sure all veggies are well coated. Doing this with your hands works best. Place the veggies in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. If they don't all fit, you may need to use two baking pans and rotate the pans halfway through baking. If there is any extra liquid, pour it over the veggies. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and flip the veggies. Bake for 20 or so more minutes until the veggie are tender inside.

This week we got kale, spinach, salad greens, sweet potatoes and pears (two bags). I actually traded this week's turnips for more pears. I'm sure the hubby will approve.

Butternut lasagna featuring kale, tofu and walnuts. Yum! by Sarah Henning

OK, so I lied, I lied, I lied. For the second week in a row, I will write about a use for butternut squash that does not involved my favorite way to eat it. Instead, this week I wanted to share a recipe that's perfect for the season: it's warm, it's seasonal (using both squash and the fall crop of spinach and kale) and it's just dang tasty. And hearty. And it makes a bunch.

Are you sold yet?

It's butternut squash lasagna. And it's awesome. This was actually the first dish that convinced my tofu-hating husband that tofu really isn't so bad. In fact, it can be really, really yummy when done properly.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this dish takes awhile to prepare, so it may not be the perfect antidote to the weeknight "what the heck are we having for dinner?" conundrum. But, we have had lots of success either making this dish on a Sunday and eating the leftovers all week or making all of it after dinner one night and putting it in the fridge so we can bake for dinner the next day.

As usual, we used CSA squash and greens, as well as local Central Soy Tofu and though we usually use whole-wheat noodles, I totally bought the wrong thing this week, so we used your everyday semolina noodle.

Enjoy!

Butternut Lasagna (From "The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook")

9-11 lasagna noodles (I just buy a standard box)

1/2 onion, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups chopped spinach/kale/chard

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

1/2 cup boiling water (This just for the very end, and is optional)

Tofu filling

1 1/2 pounds firm or silken tofu

2 eggs or 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons dried basil

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Sauce:

3 cups mashed cooked butternut squash (buy some frozen squash to get this amount, or it's equivalent to one large squash or two small ones that you peel, chop up and mash)

3/4 cup milk (dairy or nondairy)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon miso

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sauté onion in olive oil until soft. Stir in garlic and greens. If greens are dry, add a little water. Cover and steam 5 minutes or until soft. Set aside.

Place tofu filling ingredients in food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Remove bowl and set aside.

Place sauce ingredients in food processor or blender. Puree until smooth.

Assemble lasagna as follows: Cover  bottom of 9x13-inch pan with thin layer of sauce ( I use a glass pyrex dish).

The lasagna's squash base. by Sarah Henning

Place a single layer of lasagna noodles in bottom of pan. Leave a little space between the noodles  as they will expand when cooked. Spread 1/2  of the tofu filling over the noodles. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cooked greens over tofu.

The tofu/kale/noodle filling of the lasagna. by Sarah Henning

Spread 1/3 of the butternut sauce over the greens. Repeat for one more layer. Place noodle layer on top and cover with butternut sauce. Sprinkle chopped nuts over squash.

Optional: Pour boiling water in corners and around edges of lasagna.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes. Allow to stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Makes about 8 servings.

What did we get this week? Mushrooms, kale, pie pumpkins, sweet potatoes, salad greens and salad turnips. Alas, we didn't get butternut squash this week, so I can't bore you with yet another squash recipe next week. I know you're just devastated!

Pierogies from Those Polish Thingies and a salad featuring CSA greens and peppers plus carrots and sunflower seeds. by Sarah Henning

Ever had a pierogi? No? You're definitely missing out, but I'm not surprised if you've never tasted the Polish treat. I, myself, had no idea what the heck they were until moving to Scranton, Pa., for one glorious year after college. There, I was introduced to the pierogi, which is kind of like a big fat ravioli filled with potatoes and other yumminess.

Sound good? Lucky for you, there are two pierogi producers right here in Lawrence — the Pieroguys and Those Polish Thingies.

And, imagine that, I was lucky enough to have obtained two packages of leek and potato pierogies and a single package of dessert-sized pumpkin pierogies from Those Polish Thingies, who sells each week at Cottin's Farmers' Market. So, Friday night we designated pierogi night, and baked them up and served them with a salad of fresh CSA greens and peppers. YUM.

On Saturday, we decided to go for homemade pizza using our CSA butternut squash. Yes, yes, I know last week how I said I'd probably make butternut squash and black bean burritos yet again with the squash. But, we thought this recipe sounded intriguing enough that we'd try it.

So, we made our own pizza dough, using Mark Bittman's fabulous recipe, and made a double batch of the squash pizza recipe.

The hubby ended up pureeing the squash, rather than cubing it, which actually made it look kind of like cheddar pizza or something from far away. Check out that orange:

Two slices of butternut squash pizza with homemade dough, rosemary from our garden and squash from our CSA. by Sarah Henning

But I don't think anyone minded that we had two pizzas' worth of butternut squash goodness. We've been eating it since Saturday, and it only gets better with age.

The hubby usually prefers pepperoni and black olives on his pizza, but loved the butternut squash-rosemary-onion combination. by Sarah Henning

As for what we have to work with this week, I happened to pick up: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, kale, salad greens and raspberries (which were promptly inhaled by the kiddo).

(Oh, and if you're dying to know more about the pierogi, look for a story on Lawrence.com on the Polish treat during the month of October!)

Like father ... by Sarah Henning

Like son! by Sarah Henning

As you can see from the photos above, it's clear that my guys LOVED a particular dinner last week. And with good reason — it's my favorite dinner of the fall, too.

Savory Butternut & Black Bean Squash burritos.

Don't those sound almost too yummy to take? It's the work of Nancy O'Connor and her fabulous Rolling Prairie Cookbook, and the second I saw we were taking home a butternut squash last week, I knew we'd be having them for dinner.

Gotta enjoy things when they're local and in-season, right? And I'm taking winter squash season for all it's worth.

As for the rest of our Rolling Prairie CSA bounty, we made lunch salad out of the salad mix, peppers and tomatoes, snacks out of the pears and the spinach made its way into a green smoothie.

OK, so back to the burritos. As you've probably noticed in this blog, we like our burritos/tacos/Mexican-inspired food in this family, but these burritos are my absolute favorite. I mean, just look at what's inside them!

The insides of one of my favorite fall meals: Rolling Prairie's Savory Butternut and Black Bean Burritos. by Sarah Henning

So, without further ado ... here's the recipe. Thanks again to Nancy for her creative recipes!

Savory Butternut & Black Bean Burritos (From the Rolling Prairie Cookbook by Nancy O'Connor)

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 medium-sized onion, chopped

3 cups peeled butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

8 flour tortillas

1 1/2 cups grated reduced-fat Monterey jack or Cheddar cheese Light sour cream, fresh cilantro, and salsa for garnish

Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add winter squash cubes and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring often until squash is just tender. If your mixture begins to stick, add a little water (or apple juice) to help steam the squash. When squash is just tender, add cumin, cinnamon, and salt. Stir carefully to distribute spices. Add the beans and heat through.

Preheat oven to 350°F. You're now ready to assemble the burritos. In a large oblong baking dish (not oiled) lay out one tortilla. Place 1/8 of the bean mixture down the center, top with 3 tablespoons of cheese and roll up tightly. Continue to do this with remaining ingredients, lining up your burritos in the pan as you go. Bake uncovered for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until burritos are heated through.

Serve burritos topped with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped fresh cilantro, with salsa on the side. Makes 8 burritos - enough for 8 polite adults, 6 hungry adults, or 4 teenage boys.

(P.S.: Most of the time we skip the last baking step because we're hungry and can't wait, but they're great either way.)

This week, we received: pears, greens, salad mix, peppers, potatoes and butternut squash (!)

This guy likes his torte, even if we didn't have all the ingredients. by Sarah Henning

My motto for the past week: Sometimes simple works best, sometimes elaborate is the way to go, but both get dinner on the table.

I must say, maybe I'm getting summer senioritis, but when we picked up our bag of goodies last week — pears, raspberries, peppers, tomatoes, basil and grapes — I just didn't feel like cooking. We had a great loaf of Wheatfields' rustic rosemary Italian bread in the bread box and I must admit that after having leftovers Monday night, we ate an array of tomato-based sandwiches the rest of the week.

Yeah, we were lazy this week, but at least our sandwiches were pretty. by Sarah Henning

Yeah, boring, I know. We finished off the grapes, pears and raspberries on their own. The basil went bad (don't judge me!) and the peppers are pretty much still around. Total senioritis, I know, it's horrible.

But by the weekend, we were feeling like truly cooking again. The hubby announced he was going to make one of his all-time favorite meals after finding a few yellow squash in the crisper (these may have been from last week and just left off my list, or they may have been older than that).

It's a summer squash and potato torte and it takes forever and a day to make, but it was Sunday, so that didn't seen like much of a hurdle. The problem, it turned out, wasn't the amount of time, but the fact that we didn't have all the necessary ingredients. No green onions (or regular onions), no cheese, possibly not enough squash. But still, the hubby persisted, taking the kiddo outside to dig for potatoes in our garden. And the finished product wasn't half bad, especially with a side of local focaccia and barbecue sauce (hey, what can we say?), but it wasn't the normal product either.

As for this week's recipes... well, like I said, the torte is kind of elaborate, so I think it's just best that you head over to the original recipe. Also, the photos of it are much more flattering to the actual food, though my husband's pretty head sure does gussy up our tortes, if I do say so myself.

In our bag this week? Grapes (again eaten on the way home), raspberries, peppers, baby salad greens, basil and tomatoes.

Between our CSA, garden and my mother-in-law's garden, we were swimming in produce. by Sarah Henning

This week, we used pretty much all of our CSA veggies and most of our garden veggies in a single dinner. How'd we do it? Easy: Gazpacho and roasted vegetables. We also made a complete mess of our kitchen, but it was totally worth it.

Though it was great we got to use all our vegetables, our kitchen suffered mightly for it. by Sarah Henning

First I chopped up bell peppers, eggplant, yellow squash and zucchini, drizzled them with olive oil and put them in a 425-degree oven to roast.

A big ol' mess of roasted veggies, including bell peppers, zucchini and eggplant. by Sarah Henning

Next, I took over wrangling the kiddo while the DH chopped up several of our glorious tomatoes, another pepper and onion to make a gazpacho from Terry Walters' "Clean Food" that we just love (so much so, that I wrote about it last week, too). Once the soup was done and the veggies were nice and cooked through, we chowed down.

Sooo yummy! Yummier still was that we topped the roasted veggies with sun-dried tomato pesto, leftover from our polenta-spinach-pesto dinner the night before.

Our meal full of veggies — gazpacho and roasted veggies with sun-dried tomato pesto. by Sarah Henning

If you have a late-summer glut of produce — gazpacho and roasted veggies are definitely the way to go!

As for the pears and raspberries, we just ate them out of hand. Nothing fancy, but truly tasty.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto ("Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz)

1/2 cup tightly packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup water

1/4 cup almonds

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

A few dashes fresh black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a low boil, then turn the heat off and let soak for about 15 minutes, until soft. Grind the almonds in a blender or food processor. Add the sun-dried tomatoes (with the water), garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and puree. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the basil. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

What'd we get this week? Pears, raspberries, peppers, tomatoes, basil and grapes, though the grapes are already toast — the little guy ate them on the way home from picking them up.

My cousin's adorable 3-year-old, Ava, enjoys some yummy local yellow watermelon. by Sarah Henning

Last week was surface-of-the-sun hot. No one can argue that. And when we got our CSA bag on Monday from the folks at Rolling Prairie, I knew we were going to avoid cooking (i.e. heating) as many ingredients of my local fruits and vegetables as possible.

Soup and salad to the rescue!

Such a pretty salad — strawberries, avocados and quinoa, oh my! by Sarah Henning

Our CSA take-home was a great mix: kale, yellow watermelon, raspberries, zucchini, cucumbers and a mixture of tomatoes, including my favorite, Purple Cherokee. The kale went to some of my green shakes, while the raspberries and watermelon were eaten as dessert (see my cousin's cute daughter, Ava, chowing down above). I decided to save the zucchini for a recipe this coming week, leaving me with tomatoes and cucumbers to use up.

We host Ava and my cousin's family for dinner about every other week and last week we decided to do a duo of no-cook salads for our big family dinner. We chose Cucumber, Mango and Chickpea Salad and Sprouted Quinoa with Strawberries and Lime, both from Terry Walters' excellent "Clean Food" cookbook.

It might not have been as pretty as the strawberry salad, but it was my favorite dish of the night — cucumber salad with mangoes, chickpeas, currants and dried apricots. by Sarah Henning

Both were refreshing, quick and tasty, though I will say, that if I had to do it over again, I'd chose to actually cook the quinoa properly rather than just letting it sprout. By letting it sprout, we avoided using our stove (yay!), but I didn't care much for the sprouts' crunchy texture.

I still had a cucumber leftover after our meal with the family, so on Thursday, the darling hubby made a wonderful gazpacho from Walters' book that used up both the last cuke and all of our yummy CSA tomatoes. As someone who had just run 10 miles in the heat, I was super pleased to have this cold soup waiting for me!

This gazpacho reminds me of the summer I studied abroad in Spain with KU. by Sarah Henning

OK, so full disclosure, we didn't actually use any of our CSA ingredients in the strawberry salad, but Ava looked so cute eating it (see picture below) that I had to include the recipe! (Plus you can use local tomatillos or a local pepper in it when you make it.)

Because she's a big girl, Ava ate all of that salad (or at least took some big bites) in order to get dessert of melon. by Sarah Henning

As for this week? We got pears, raspberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, basil and yellow squash. (And a sticker for our Eat Local Challenge passports)

Cucumber, Mango and Chickpea Salad (Clean Food by Terry Walters)

2 medium cumbers, peeled and diced

1 mango, peeled, pitted and diced

2 cups cooked chickpeas (We used 1 can)

1/4 cup currants

1/4 cup dried apricots, minced

1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped

Dressing

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 small shallot

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine cucumbers, mango, chickpeas, currants, apricots and mint. In separate bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Pour over salad, toss and serve.

Sprouted Quinoa with Strawberries and Lime (Clean Food by Terry Walters)

1 cup quinoa

1/2 cup peeled and diced jicama

2 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced

3 tomatillos, husked and diced

1 cup quartered strawberries

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 watermelon radish, peeled and diced (We couldn't find one, so we skipped it).

Dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons lime juice

Zest and juice of 1 orange

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh mint

Sea salt

Rinse quinoa thoroughly and place in bowl with enough water to cover. Allow quinoa to absorb water, about 4 hours. Place quinoa in fine-mesh strainer, rinse and place the strainer on plate on counter. Rinse 2 times during the day. Quinoa will sprout within 24 hours.

In a large bowl, combine sprouted quinoa, jicama, avocado, apricots, tomatillos, strawberries, yellow pepper and watermelon radish. In separate bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Pour over salad, toss to combine and refrigerate. Serve cold.

Gazpacho (Adapted from Clean Food by Terry Walters)

2 to 6 tomatoes

1 small red onion, minced

1 green bell pepper, minced (We used red because we're partial to them)

1 cucumber, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

4 cups tomato juice (We didn't use any because we had super juicy tomatoes!)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Dash of hot pepper sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fresh parsley and lemon for garnish

Dice tomatoes and put in bowl. Add remaining ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste with hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Stir until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate. Serve cold with a wedge of lemon and a sprig of parsley.

The little man takes care of our CSA blackberries... by Sarah Henning

OK, so, Ms. Stewart herself didn't come over and whip up a meal using all my odds and ends. BUT she did inspire my family so that we could do the deed ourselves.

Let me explain. One of the hardest tasks ever associated with going on vacation is timing your food consumption so that it A. Doesn't run out before you leave and B. Doesn't get left to spoil while you're halfway across the country.

But, a CSA waits for no one, and from the second I got mine on Monday, I knew the clock was ticking before vacation time and a good few dinners we wouldn't cook. Luckily, we got a good variety of items, that are pretty easy to use on their own like last week. We were lucky enough to get blackberries, yellow(!) watermelon, cucumbers, kale, basil, tomatoes and frying peppers. The blackberries became a snack for a certain someone (see above), while the melon became dessert and the kale became another round of kale chips.

By the end of the week, we still had the basil, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes to use. I gifted some of the basil, a few of my garden cucumbers and all of the peppers to my running buddy, Laurie, a great home cook in her own right. But still our fridge held the CSA cucumbers, basil and the counter was full of tomatoes, both from the CSA and our garden.

We had a few peaches and ears of corn left from my most recent trip to Bismarck Gardens, so we used the site Recipe Chimp, to find something to do with everything. The only reply that came back to us fitting our ingredients? Stuffed Tomatoes with Peaches Corn, Cucumbers and Basil on Martha's site.

Now, we didn't have the right kind of tomatoes to pull off stuffed tomatoes (we had grape and cherry tomatoes, not beefsteak ones), so the darling hubby just threw all Martha's ingredients in a bowl and called it dinner. And yes, it was delicious. Just look at all the pretty colors!

Our version of Martha's appetizer. by Sarah Henning

So, here's our take on Martha's fridge-cleaning recipe:

1 pint small tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise if too large for one bite

2 ripe peaches, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2 cups)

3 cucumbers, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 1/3 cups)

Kernels from 2 ears corn (1 1/2 cups)

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste

4 or 5 fresh basil leaves, cut in slivers

Stir together tomatoes, peaches, cucumbers, corn, oil, 1 tablespoon lime juice, salt, and pepper. Let stand for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust for acidity, adding up to 1 tablespoon more lime juice. Stir in basil. Enjoy!

Now, as I'll be on vacation next week, I've asked my friend and fellow CSA subscriber, Christine, to chronicle how she uses her CSA this week. Can't wait to hear how she did!

Yum! Kale chips make the perfect side to an avocado and heirloom tomato sandwich on local bread. by Sarah Henning

You may have checked out the headline to this post and thought, "KALE chips? CHIPS? How chip-like can kale get?"

Well, to answer your question, they won't rival Doritos, but they do taste pretty darn good. That, and they're super easy. All you have to do is put them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper (NOT waxed paper), spray them with olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt and sugar and bake for 10 minutes, or until crisped but not burnt.

The chef lays down torn bits of kale on parchment paper to create "kale chips." by Sarah Henning

I love them and I've gotten other people to love them (Kids! Husbands! People who've never had kale!). So, now it's your turn.

To refresh your memory, I did get more than kale in last week's bag. In addition to the bunch of curly green kale, I got blueberries, blackberries, shallots, basil and little baby yellow squashes.

The berries — both kinds — didn't make it until sundown Monday, they were just too good to sit around.

We used the kale on Tuesday, pairing them with sandwiches made of avocado and local Purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes on local bread (from Megan Paisley of Crane River Farm, yet again).

Both the basil and the shallots were used on Thursday, when I came home from a run to find a bunch of potatoes my hubby and kiddo dug up in the garden while I was gone.

The kiddo was so proud that he helped dig these potatoes! by Sarah Henning

The hubby turned them into a yummy potato salad topped with the basil and a Italian-style dressing made with a shallot. It was a totally yummy and welcome surprise, as I was starving from all that running!

Our garden potatoes and tomatoes mixed nicely with olives, green beans and CSA basil. by Sarah Henning

And last, but not least, I finally managed to use my stored snap peas from weeks' past. We decided to pull out a lovely recipe by Nancy O'Connor of the famous "Rolling Prairie Cookbook." It's basically snap peas sauteed with shallots. And, boy, was it a winner! We had it for lunch on Saturday with some of Megan's focaccia (yes, I buy a LOT of bread from her, despite the fact that I bake my own).

Finally, on Saturday we got to enjoy our snap peas. And they were tasty! by Sarah Henning

Now, the little baby squashes replace the snap peas as the item in my fridge I need to use. Maybe I'll just do them up in a sauce pan with shallots just like the peas... hmmm.

Well, while I'm pondering that, here are the recipes for the potato salad and the snap peas.

Snap Peas with Shallots (From "The Rolling Prairie Cookbook by Nancy O'Connor"

1 tablespoon butter

1 large shallot, finely minced

4 cups snap peas, left whole, with strings and tips removed

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable broth or water

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallot and sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Ad the peas, sprinkle with salt, and stir to coat with butter. Add liquid to the pan, cover and cook for 3 or 4 minutes more or until peas are barely tender-crisp and still bright green. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Potato salad with Italian dressing (from BigOven.com)

1 cup cold water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/3 cup red-wine vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 large clove garlic; peeled and minced

1 tablespoon country-style dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dried basil; crushed

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; crushed

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 pounds small red potatoes

1 medium shallot; peeled and minced

1/2 pound green beans; trimmed and cut

1/2 cup Kalamata olives

3 plum tomatoes; seeded and chopped (We used heirloom tomatoes)

8 basil leaves; slivered

1. To prepare the dressing: Combine about 1 tablespoon of the water with the cornstarch to dissolve. Combine the remaining water, cornstarch mixture, vinegar and tomato paste in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the garlic, mustard, basil, oregano, cayenne, salt, pepper and olive oil. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

2. To prepare the salad: Scrub the potatoes but do not peel. Cut in halves. Place in a steamer basket and steam over boiling water until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of the dressing and the shallot. Refrigerate 1 to several hours. Bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the beans and time about 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Pat dry and add to the potatoes. Stir in the olives, tomatoes and basil leaves. Add enough dressing to coat the salad. If making the salad ahead, refrigerate; remove from refrigeration about 1 hour before serving.

So, what did we get this week? Blackberries, onions, zucchini, kale, new potatoes and tomatoes.